Christian, Jews

How to Recognize and Resist Deception

I’ve been a fan of WW II historical fiction and biographies for decades. It started when I read Corrie ten Boom’s book, The Hiding Place. Since then, I have read more books about the events of the Holocaust than I can count.

Have you ever wondered how Hitler was able to convince people to follow him? How was that possible?

Observing our world today, I better understand how it could have happened. Propaganda is more powerful than people realize. We are all influenced by it in one way or another from grocery shopping to political views. Some people are simply afraid not to go along with the crowd. This is especially true of young minds. It’s called peer pressure or contagion.

Think about this: Someone was able to convince thousands of people to side with Hamas, a barbaric, evil terrorist organization. Thousands protested in the streets around the world. Even in America, students in our finest universities demonstrated against Israel in support of barbaric terrorists who raped women and burned babies alive!

In 2022, a male swimmer, six-foot-four Lia Thomas, claiming to be a transgender woman, left the Penn men’s swim team and began competing in women’s swimming. He was permitted to enter the 2022 Women’s Olympics and won the swimming championship. How were intelligent people persuaded to allow and support allowing men into women’s sports?

We are all vulnerable to deception. However, we can protect ourselves. We don’t have to wonder or guess what is true. Out of His mercy and love, God has given us the way. It isn’t through high-sounding philosophy or turning to the world for answers. It is by turning to God’s Word, the Holy Bible. We can know the truth.

Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32 NIV

“The law of the Lord is perfect,
    refreshing the soul.
The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy,
    making wise the simple.” Psalm 19:7 NIV

All your words are true;
    all your righteous laws are eternal.” Psalm 119:160 NIV

“But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth.” John 16:13 NIV

“…speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.” Ephesians 4:15 NIV

“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.” John 4:23 NIV

“These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgment in your courts…” Zechariah 8:16 NIV

Jesus, speaking to the Pharisees said, “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.  John 8:44 NIV

The Bible has warned us that in the last days there will be great deception.

“For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” 2 Timothy 4:4 NIV

As I grow older, it becomes more and more obvious to me that people believe what they have been influenced to believe, and in some cases, actually brainwashed. For example, did you know that children in Gaza are brainwashed to hate Jews?

If what you believe contradicts God’s Holy Word, the Bible, then you have been misled.

How were your beliefs formed?

We can know the truth.

In His Love, Cindy

Do you want to know more about Jesus? See my page Who Is Jesus?

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